Materialism - we have it too!

We have more the spirit of materialism in us than we care to admit. Just looking at the things I have in my own home is proof enough. I have more clothes and ties than I can wear in a month. I tend to look at and read about the latest gadget out in the market to "help us save time". My store room is full of things I rarely or never use anymore. 

King Solomon (supposedly the wisest man in his time) once indulged himself in an extreme experiment in real life. He put it this way: "“Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure…” (Ecclesiastes 2:10). That's as good a description of the materialistic outlook as it can get. 

Joseph Stowell makes a sharp observation about materialism:

The real point of materialism is

• Not how much we have, but what has us.
  
• Not what we hold, but how tightly we hold it.
  
• Not what we have, but how we got it.
  

If I think about this seriously enough, it gets pretty uncomfortable. How much of a grip does materialism have in our lives? Does it matter?